


what their students don't know

by thing1_mea



Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Professors, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22829533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thing1_mea/pseuds/thing1_mea
Summary: Crowley and Aziraphale have begun teaching classes at a nearby college. While Crowley openly shares about his relationship Aziraphale prefers to keep his private life private... for as long as he can
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 229





	what their students don't know

**Author's Note:**

> A quick one-shot I wrote a while back

The whole professor thing was Aziraphale’s idea. He said he was getting kind of bored with just running a bookshop and wanted to have the chance to teach some people how to love literature the way he’d done so. Crowley had been less than thrilled at first. He’d thought the whole thing wasn’t worth it and that he didn’t have anything valuable to teach students. Aziraphale disagreed. He had heard Crowey drunkenly monologue about the proper way to raise an anthurium. He figured a few miracled up papers and Crowley could definitely have the credentials to be a botany professor.

After a few months, he had to admit that it was a good use of his time. They both enjoyed teaching. Aziraphale loved having people who were forced to listen to him talk about his favorite books. Crowley loved telling people about plants and his husband and his husband's ignorance of plants. To their credit, they were good teachers. Both cared about their subjects so they were quite engaging.

Crowley, after 2 semesters, had what can only be described as a cult following. Students from every department signed up to take Botany 101 to see what all the fuss was about. His strange way of talking about the plants as if they could hear him enticed the agriculture students and his near-daily ramblings about his husband enticed everyone else. Without fail he would always find some way to connect the plant of the day back to his husband or his car (the famous Bently). On the day they did roses he did the whole class with one between his teeth. Halfway the class he scraped his tongue against one of the thorns and spit it out. At this point, he admitted that the whole thing was a bet he had with his husband. Apparently the pair disagreed about whether or not Mr. Crowley could hold a rose between his teeth like a true romantic for more than 20 minutes. He had made it nineteen. Crowley insisted to his class that somehow his husband had made the rose grow a thorn there just so he wouldn’t lose the bet.

Aziraphale, or Mr. Fell as his students called him, wasn’t quite as popular as Crowley. He had a much simpler charm to him. The students who came into his class excited about reading and literature loved him. He often had them show up at his office hours just to talk about a book they were reading. He talked about books constantly. Several of his most engaged and endearing students each semester would try and figure out about his home life. This always seemed to make Mr. Fell very uncomfortable. He didn’t think it was really the students’ business what he did in his free time. They ought to be more concerned with his opinions on Jane Eyre (a lovely woman who really did enjoy writing as much as he enjoyed reading). His students found this odd but figured he must just be a lonely man. One or two had been invited to visit his book shop and were surprised and saddened that it contained no evidence of loved ones or cats. The man seemed completely alone in life.

Of course, this wasn’t true. After every day the two would both excuse themselves from their fellow colleagues (citing the papers that they could miracle away). They would head back to Aziraphale’s book shop and sit around a fire. Aziraphale would read a book while Crowley would plug in headphones and relax to some form of audio entertainment. Lately, he had found listening to the pessimistic books of George Orwell to be a relaxing way to spend his evening. The pair would start on opposite ends of the couch. Then Crowley would get bored with his position and would put his feet up. They’d land on Aziraphale’s lap. Aziraphale would acknowledge this only with a small smile on his lips as he continued reading.

As the fire continued to crackle and Crowley grew bored with his audio he would turn on the TV above the fireplace. This tended to annoy Aziraphale but he didn’t say anything. He continued to go on reading, though slower since there was now background noise. Crowley would get up to fetch the two dinner. Usually, something that Aziraphale enjoyed more than he did as a thank you for putting up with the noise. He would sit a little closer, more in the center of the couch this time.

They continued in this dance until, by the end of the night, one of them was sleeping with their head in the other’s lap and the other was distracted from their book or tv because they couldn’t stop staring at the former. Around 10 pm Crowley would suggest they go to bed and they would. Of course, neither of them needed sleep but Aziraphale enjoyed it and Crowley enjoyed the feeling of being in bed with Aziraphale. They had both come to like “cuddling” as it was called. Some nights they’d kiss, some nights they’d do more than kiss, and some nights they would simply lay in the same bed.

The next day they would wake up and do it all again. They seemed to quite like this routine. It was quaint and quiet compared to the last eleven years. 

It was the first genuinely chilly day of autumn in their 3rd year of teaching. Two students who were also in their 3rd year at the school were walking through the parking lot. They were headed back to their apartments after a botany test. One of Crowley’s botany tests. He had started having night exams last semester, he claimed the plants were better behaved when it was dark out. This was the second test of the semester and while Samantha was walking home thinking about whether she correctly identified the leaves of the plants in the southeast corner of the greenhouse Brianna was much more concerned with Crowley’s personal life.

“I mean how do we even know he has a husband? None of his students have ever seen him?” She mused, trying to get a rise out of Samantha who was quite defensive of her favorite professor.

“You’re being ridiculous. Of course, he has a husband. You can’t make up someone like that.” She rolled her eyes, “What did you get for the first multiple choice. Did you think that one was too easy?”

Brianna didn’t even bother answering her. “I’m just saying if he loves him that much then why has there never been a student to see a picture of him. Wouldn’t you want to see your husband’s face all day long?”

“First of all I’m never going to have a husband and second of all, maybe he just doesn’t want us to see his husband. He could be a private man.” As she spoke Samantha was maneuvering her backpack to her front so she could pull out her textbook and self correct her test as they walked. “Seriously Bri, what did you get for the first multiple-choice question?”

Bri rolled her eyes, “Which version of the test did you have?”

“B”

“I had test C so all of our answers and questions were different. Now can we get back to the important things?”

Samantha huffed a little bit as she fought with her backpack zipper. “Fine, what’s the big deal if you don’t know what Crowley’s husband looks like?”

“It’s not just that. I mean what kind of married man doesn’t have photos of his husband around you know?” She seemed hell-bent on proving something. Samantha wasn’t sure what it was, but she was going to make her point. Brianna kept going without any prompting, “I mean we have no idea what he looks like other than being ‘adorable’ and ‘such an exquisite masterpiece of God’. Who even talks like that?”

Samantha smiled, “Wait he said that? About his husband?”

Brianna nodded.

Samantha was about to say something about how cute that was, but instead, she stopped cold in her tracks. Two rows into the parking lot she saw Professor Crowley’s famous Bently. In the back seat, he seemed to be getting pretty steamy. She couldn’t tear her eyes away.

“Oh my God!” Brianna whispered as loud as she could, “Is that Professor Fell!?”

Samantha nodded, mouth opened wide.

The pair in the car didn’t have an inkling of a clue they were being watched. They were too occupied with each other to notice the eerie feeling. Crowley was usually in charge of making sure no one was watching when necessary, but his face was currently buried deep in Aziraphale neck kissing him and reveling in the small moans escaping his husband’s lips. 

To understand why Crowley and Aziraphale had broken so far from their normal routine we need to back up to about half an hour ago. Crowley had been on his way out of the office and to his car. The day had been absolutely dreadful in every way. One of his TA’s had found a small error in the test so they had to reprint every copy. Sure Crowley could have had his TA’s fix the edit on every test but wasting the paper seemed like the more demonic thing to do, and he was in a demonic mood after that.

The printer they were using stopped working approximately 70% of the way through the tests. This wouldn’t have been a problem for Aziraphale, he was very good at modern technology, but Crowley’s first attempt to fix it was to kick it, hard. Then to call IT staff. This did not help his mood. By the time his tests were finally printed he had to make his TA’s run to pass them out in time. This was not the end of his day though. He still had about an hour’s worth of things to complete back at his office before he could finally make his way home to be with Aziraphale and give no more thought to this bloody test ever again.

As he finally packed up at the end of his irritating day he allowed his mind to travel to his two favorite topics. His car and his husband. The former would definitely be there waiting for him when he got outside. Aziraphale, on the other hand, had probably taken the bus. He usually did on days when Crowley had to give a test. It always made for a long day and waiting and Aziraphale much preferred his book shop to his office. However today he had been held up longer than expected. After his day was done he had headed to the parking lot and gotten in the Bently. He assumed it would only be about ten minutes or so before Crowley showed up. He was wrong. He sat in the car alone reading his book for two hours.

When Crowley saw Aziraphale sitting in his car he picked up his pace. He pulled open the door and sat down quickly, startling Aziraphale. “Why on earth are you still here Angel? It’s-” he glanced at his watchless wrist, “It’s far later than you usually stay isn’t it?”

Aziraphale started blinking for a moment, “Well it’s later than I expected to be here I guess. I just thought you’d be a moment. Then I got lost in this book.” He held up the book for Crowley to see. “I’m almost through with it. Just a few more chapters to go an-” He was cut off as Crowley moved forward and kissed his lips. Aziraphale pulled back. “Crowley, we are in the school parking lot what came over you?”

He sat back in his seat and shrugged. Truth be told he found Aziraphale’s ramblings about books to be extremely endearing even if they could be long-winded. “I know where we are angel, I just” He mumbled a little, “I just wanted to kiss you.”

“Oh,” He was a little shocked. They never kissed much in public and definitely not at school, “Well we could be seen here, Crowley?”

“Naah, there’s no way,” He said more hopefully than assuredly. “No one’s around this area during the day nonetheless when the sun’s gone down. We’ll be all by ourselves?” As he said the last bit he moved a little closer in his seat to Aziraphale and leaned in. “Plus isn’t it a little fun angel? The idea of being caught? Isn’t it a bit enticing?” By the end, he was only inches away from his husband's face.

Aziraphale's face was bright red. He spoke softly. "Well, of course, you’re enticing Crowley. You’re always enticing to me. But we're at school."

Crowley shrugged and kissed him briefly on the lips. “Have I ever told you how much I enjoy watching you teach?” He asked softly.

“You were watching me teach today?”

“Yeah,” He said, “This morning before my test misprinted I snuck into the back of the lecture hall for ten minutes or so and watched you.”

“Crowley,” Was all he could say.

That was all the permission the demon needed. He leaned forward and closed the gap between them. 

It was ten minutes later when Samantha and Brianna were walking by. The pair in the car had no idea they were being watched.

“Why is Professor Crowley snogging Mr. Fell?” Samantha asked.

Brianna shook her head. She didn’t know any more than Samantha did.

“That is Professor Crowley right?”

Brianna nodded.

“The same Professor Crowley who teaches Botany?

Brianna nodded.

“The one who gushes about how in love he is with his husband?”

“Yes, Samantha. Crowley is kissing someone in his car despite being married.”

“Brianna!” She said scandalized.

Brianna pulled her eyes away from the car to look at her friend. “What? You were the one asking all the questions. What else did you want me to say?”

Samantha just stared at the car. “I feel like we shouldn’t be watching this Bri.”

“Well no shit,” She grabbed Samantha’s wrist and started to walk them both past the car, “Of course we’re not supposed to see our professor having an affair.”

“We don’t know that’s what he’s doing. Maybe Mr. Fell is...” She trailed off thinking hard. There had to be some reason that Mr. Fell was in the car.

“Is what? That he’s Crowley’s husband? No way. That man taught Lisa Shakespearean sonnets. She said he is the most single person to ever read a romance poem. She went to his book shop once and said there's no way he has any close friends or family.”

“So what he’s just some homewrecker?” Asked Samantha, who had never really known Mr. Fell. Their friend Lisa was one of his favorite students. But they had only ever really heard stories, and Lisa was always one to exaggerate the truth.

“I dunno maybe,” She was busy trying to peel the image of Crowley in making out with another professor from her head.

The pair continued to their apartment where they broke the news to Lisa. She tried to defend her favorite professor at first but gave up quickly. Within 48 hours the whole school knew what had happened. Well, all of the students did. None of them had the guts to actually bring it up with Crowley and many just weren’t talking to Mr. Fell.

The angel and demon caught on quickly. They weren’t sure why they were being ignored but they knew something had changed. Crowley’s office hours became much more about plants and less conversational. The students seemed to have lost interest in his ramblings during class as well. No one would make eye contact when he started on a tangent about the different types of tea leaves his husband has tried in the past week or so.

Aziraphale’s students seemed much less inclined to speak up in class. Those who usually agreed with him contradicted him more. He encouraged them to disagree with him if it’s what they thought the book was saying but their arguments seemed to come from a place of spite rather than a different understanding of the Odyssey. Even his favorite students had stopped coming to his office hours and when he spent time at his book store during the day no students stopped by to say hello.

After a particularly lonely set of office hours wherein Aziraphale had forgotten the book he was reading in a lecture hall that was being used by another professor the angel decided to visit Crowley’s class. He put a sign on his door saying he was out this afternoon and headed across campus. The wind was a little chilly but his jacket absorbed most of the bite.

He went into the lecture hall where students were just starting to filter in for Crowley’s 2:00 lecture. As he walked down the stairs he began to smile. His husband was leaned over the demo plants with a menacing glare as he gently stroked its leaves. It was one of the plants the couple kept in their house.

Had he been paying more attention to the students in the room he would’ve noticed they began whispering to each other and texting the moment they realized the pair was in the same room. You see rumors spread in a strange fashion. While some students thought they’d been making out in the back of Crowley’s car most heard another version. There were too many stories to differentiate but the wildest of them included a young lady who insisted she heard them having sex in a lecture hall (they did not. this was in fact 2 other teachers who actually are having an affair, however, no one quite likes them so it isn’t as big of a deal).

He stopped a few feet away from the desk, “Crowley?”

The demon looked up, “Ang- Aziraphale what are you doing here? Don’t you have office hours?”

“Well yes, but no one is coming and I was feeling lonely,” he whined stepping a bit closer.

Crowley raised an eyebrow at him. “Lonely? Don’t you say you can never be lonely with a book?”

Aziraphale blushed, “Well yes of course, but I forgot my book in a lecture hall. It’s not open again until 4:00.”

Crowley stood up from his seat. He left his hands on the counter so he was leaning down. His golden eyes met Aziraphale, “You do know I have a lecture soon right?”

“Of course, that’s why I’m here. I wanted to listen in.”

Crowley nodded as he ran his finger down a shaking leaf of the plant in front of him.

“I was thinking Crowley, what if we went out for dinner tonight?” Aziraphale suggested. It had been nearly two weeks since the couple went out.

Crowley shrugged, “Sure, we can go right after you retrieve your book. I’m assuming you already have a location picked out?”

The angel blushed, “Yes I was thinking we could go to that lovely sushi place around the corner from the book shop. They have a new type of eel there that I’ve been so tempted to try.” Crowley raised an eyebrow at the word choice and Aziraphale blushed a little harder. “Oh, you know what I mean.”

Crowley smirked, “Whatever you want Angel.”

“Ssh,” Aziraphale hushed him, glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone had heard. Several students did including the one in the front row who had been live texting his friend this entire conversation. They all looked relatively inconspicuous though. It’s hard to tell who's listening and who’s not when they’re all on their phones or laptops.

“What?” Crowley was taken aback, “I thought you liked it when I called you that.”

“Not in school, Crowley,” He whispered.

“Well, why not?”

“Because,” Aziraphale straightened himself out a little, “We ought to keep our personal life and our private life separate don’t you think?”

Crowley let out a small laugh, “Well I don’t see why we need to. Besides if that was the plan then I failed a long time ago.” He admitted, watching his husband's eyes shoot way up, “I never shut up about you in class.”

At this point, everyone within earshot and on the group chats of those in earshot was listening closely. At first, it seemed as though they were about to catch the pair planning another date behind Crowley’s husband’s back. Now it seemed as though they had made a grave error.

“You don’t?” He asked alarmed.

“You’re telling me you never talk about me in front of your students?” Crowley wasn’t so much offended as he was amused. From his vantage point, he could see that every student in the room was silent and listening.

“Of course not, I never talk about my personal life in front of my students. In fact, I don’t even think they know that I’m married.” He stated proudly.

Crowley laughed as several faces in the room lit up in shock. “Well, they do now Aziraphale.”

He spun around and saw several students staring at him. “Well, this is just a few students. I guess that can’t hurt,” He mused mostly to himself.

Crowley let out another laugh, “You can’t be serious angel?” He turned his attention to the crowd and looked up at them, “How many of you have already texted your friend about this?”

About half of the class raised their hands.

“Your secret’s out?” He said, “Guess you're stuck with me now.” He had a devious smirk on his face. He watched as Aziraphale squirmed with discomfort in front of all of the students. He lowered his voice and spoke only to his husband, “They aren’t arch angels Aziraphale. You don’t need to pretend you don’t know me in front of them.”

Aziraphale nodded, “I do know that Crowley. I just-” he sighed and spoke quietly so that he was sure only Crowley would hear him, “You’re so much more than just a husband to me Crowley. You’re my best friend. I just- I hate to minimize you to these human terms. I’m glad we’re married but some days it doesn’t feel like enough.”

Crowley stared at him. This was not what he had expected. After 6000 years of pretending not to notice each other in front of their respective offices both of them had been uncertain of how to proceed. Now that the celestial world knew they were friends they wanted to somehow make it official. Marriage had been Crowley’s idea, after several months of pondering it himself. It was a human ceremony that had a basis in a connection of the souls on a more celestial level. It seemed fitting in some ways but restrictive in others. Now they could be more transparent with people about their relationship. They could make it clear how they felt about each other.

For Crowley, this was enough but Aziraphale found it to be restrictive. Marriage seemed to imply the beginning though they had been connected in some form for nearly 6000 years. Marriage was also a lifetime commitment for humans. Neither Crowley nor Aziraphale had normal lifetimes. They had been in love for longer than any human on his earth had been alive.

Crowley smiled at the angel in front of him, “Of course it’s not enough angel.”

“Well then why did we do it?” He whined.

Crowley just shrugged, “Cause then I can do this.” He leaned forward and laid a short kiss on Aziraphale’s lips, “And people don’t judge me.”

Aziraphale had never blushed a brighter shade of red. Had he not been so focused he would have noticed as Crowley did that multiple students had their phones out. The Angel was too entranced by the faint image of Crowley’s eyes behind his glasses. This was one of the benefits too. Being so close in public he got a hint of the beauty that Crowley hid from the world.

The spell broke after a moment when Crowley leaned back and turned to his plant, “What were you looking at?” He sneered.

Aziraphale rolled his eyes, “I’ll be in the back,” He said.

Crowley nodded and turned to his class, “Everyone today there is a special guest in the lecture.” Everyone turned to watch Aziraphale walk up the stairs as he straightened out his coat and tried to calm the bright blush in his cheeks. “The fine-looking man with a stylish collar is my husband.”

Aziraphale gave a short wave as he sat down. Crowley began his lecture. It went on as normal until someone, a student who was quite analytical and familiar with the greenhouse on campus, asked where he’d gotten the plant from.

“This one is actually from my personal collection,” He said, looking at the plant as if it may disappoint him at any moment. It did not disappoint and stood as still as it could to be admired by the whole class.

There were several glances to the back of the class. One brave soul raised her hand, “Is Dr. Fell allowed to help you with the plants at home?” He asked.

Crowley shook his head, “No he’s far too kind to the plants. They would grow all sorts of spots if he were to water them.” Aziraphale rolled his eyes. The truth was Aziraphale always sent the plants love when he walked past them. They’d never grown better.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first published fic, so thanks for reading!


End file.
